The Favourite

The Favourite is a film set in the reign of Queen Anne of Great Britain sometime around the start of the 18th Century. It's directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek director of Dogtooth and The Lobster, among others, and stars Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone and Nicholas Hoult. All of these talented bastards hit the back of the net but the writers - Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara - and the cinematographer - Robbie Ryan - are the unsung water-carriers here. The script is crackling, especially the dialogue between Stone's Abigail and Hoult's Harley, a prime example of which below:

Favour is a breeze that shifts direction all the time. Then in a instant you're back sleeping with a bunch of scabrous whores wondering whose finger's in your arse.

But it's not only the dialogue that scores. The pacing of the scenes, unlike many period dramas, snaps along and the action travels nicely around the mansion, making the location a character in itself (Abigail starts out scarred with lye in the scullery, moves to a spartan room of her own and finally to quarters at court). Oh, and there are lashings of the word cunt throughout. Perfectly used each time.

The film looks special too. According to a story on Indiewire, Ryan says they used not only 10mm lenses but also 6mm ones, which noticeably distorted the shots into proper fish-eye, making some scenes feel like a Dandy Warhols music video. And I say that with the best of intentions. This from said interview:

"There's an absurdist thing about that lens that it's kind of almost comical, but it's fantastical as well - it's not totally out of place in the film, which you would never imagine," said Ryan.

The lighting is also pretty amazing, mostly for the fact that they went all Dogme 95 on it and used only natural light. Apparently, the Kodak film 'rounds out the highlights in blown out windows'. There are some scenes which are only candle-lit and this really adds to the grandeur of the mansion location (Hatfield House, Hertfordshire & Hampton Court, Richmond). The music might be the only bum note for me in this film. It's mostly fine but the discordant style went on too long in certain scenes. But that's a minor quibble in a film as fine as this one.

Watching The Favourite (and immediately following it) I was impressed with the style, the humour, the characters but a week or so later I'm thinking more about the queen herself and the intricacies of her personality. The other characters had motivation, certain ambitions, but what was Anne's drive? It's pretty clear that it's all returning to the rabbits. Having to be a leader without necessarily wanting the gig (during wartime no less), losing 17 (!) children, wondering who is a friend and who is a scheming mountebank - all this informs Olivia Colman's performance. I was saying to Merv that I thought Colman wasn't really the lead in this, that it's an equal three-hander but I now think that she's the pivot of the film, regardless of screen time. All the heavy themes - favouritism, loss, desperation, drawing strength from unknown places - are handled by Anne, while the fun stuff is given to Sarah, Abigail, Harley and Godolphin. Duck racing anyone?

See also:

For a thematic equivalent have a look at Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve (1950) and for more natural light use, check out the first Dogme film, Festen (1998), directed by Thomas Vinterberg.

SPOILERS IN POD!!

Listen to "The Favourite" on Spreaker.

Vice

So Merv and I caught Vice at the Luna last week and I was chuffed to hear it was showing in the 'new' screens just up Oxford street. (Bonus review - mostly fine, smallish theatre but the seats didn't allow for any spreading, very narrow at the knee area).

So, the film. Right after it I think I was riding on a wave of anti-neo-con sentiment, happy to sneer at all the U.S. Republican shithousery. But isolating the film itself took a bit longer and I realised that, aside from its politics and its prosthetics, it's not very good. It's timeline seemed scattershot rather than inventively fractured. The comedic side dishes mostly fell flat. The central idea that Cheney was the real, insidious power behind a raft of evil deeds is not really news and adding in the Unitary Executive Theory angle was perhaps a stretch, considering Nixon had probably tried fiddling this years before.

Christian Bale as Cheney is immense, helped in no small part by the amazing prosthetics and make-up required to bulk him up. Sam Rockwell as Bush Jr is again excellent but without much to do. Amy Adams and Steve Carell are fine also as Lynne Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. One of the highlights was the wrinkle on the 'unreliable narrator' gimmick. I may be Billy-no-mates here but I didn't see it coming.

I thought the film overstayed its welcome too. Bale gives a short speech to camera, justifying his 'career' but this was a message to Americans, especially those that dare criticise, not to the rest of the international viewing public. Clearly, director/writer Adam McKay is aware of his audience but it just provoked an eyebrow raise and a shrug from me. Besides, there was a perfectly good shot of Cheney's recently removed heart to finish on. Not too subtle but it would have been a nice enough way to end it.

All in all, a bit of a stand-up comedy ramble, disguised as a film. This might be why it reminded me of a cross between Mike Moore's stuff and Sacha Baron Cohen's interview with the real Cheney on Who Is America.

See also:

Sticking with the U.S. politics theme, I'll go with the excellent Frost/Nixon (2008), directed by Ron Howard and Oliver Stone's W. (2008), mainly to compare the rogue's gallery cast - Bale vs Dreyfuss, Rockwell vs Brolin, Carell vs Glenn, etc.

SPOILERS IN POD!!

Listen to "Vice" on Spreaker.

Worst of 2018 - End of Year Report

Now this has been quite painful. A couple of real turd pickles in this list. Stay clean people.

10. Ready Player One (2018)
From the book by Spielberg sycophant, Ernest Cline, this is a thousand island dressing of a film, sitting near the top of the nostalgiabation genre. Functional at best.

9. The Shape of Water (2017)
Ticking almost every 'worthy' box but sadly avoiding the 'original story' one, del Toro dangled his bait and awards committees around the world devoured it. Disappointing shite.

8. Bright (2017)
Alien Nation rip off with Big Willy unconvincingly going through the motions. Nice ideas but badly executed.

7. Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
Way too pleased with itself. Nonsense masquerading as cool.

6. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Boring and derivative. This series would need to set up a love triangle involving the two leads and an Ankylosaurus for me to stay interested.

5. Justice League (2017)
Better than the DC tripe from previous years but not by much. And where were the Wonder Twins and Gleek?

4. Tomb Raider (2018)
Unnecessary reboot, with a perfunctory story and tepid action scenes.

3. Tales from Earthsea (2006)
An interminably dull animation from the usually solid Ghibli studios. Confusing and sleep-inducing, this is easily their worst film.

2. Manhunt (2017)
If it weren't for the following this would have romped it in for Warm Norman of the year. Hang you head Mr. Woo, this was truly awful. And Masaharu Fukuyama wouldn't look out of place in the entry below...

1. The Room (2003)
Oh, hi Mark. A non-film if there ever was one. And don't try that old 'so bad, it's good' bollocks. This was way beyond bad. Jafar Panahi once made a film called This is Not a Film. Well, here's the actual thing. Fuck right off. Listen to "Best and Worst of 2018" on Spreaker.

Best of 2018 - End of Year Report

Here are the best 10 films that I saw in 2018. Some may have been released earlier and repeat viewings aren't included. I hope you passionately concur or violently disagree. Or somewhere in between. Soap up your end?

(Oh, and I'm controversially trying a 'scroll down to the top' style this year. Wish me luck!)

10. In the Fade (2017)
Gripping German terrorism drama starring the mesmerising Diane Kruger. This one makes it primarily for her performance but it's a solid film nonetheless.

9. Deadpool 2 (2018)
I reckon this is better than the first one, more assured and funnier too. 'Fridging' aside, it's full of shits and giggles. The X-force mission is a peach.

8. You Were Never Really Here (2017)
Joaquin Phoenix knocks the bollocks off this one. In a landscape of superheroes, he pares it all back to the grim reality of violence and humanity's wreckage. And his hammer gets bloodier than Thor's.

7. Get Out (2017)
Social drama meets conspiracy thriller meets horror meets black comedy equals surprisingly great.
Looking forward to more from Jordan Peele.

6. Black Panther (2018)
Top fun Marvel adventure.Timely and well executed with excellent fight scenes and performances. Who doesn't love a battle rhino?

5. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Massive weight of expectation, especially for Alden Ehrenreich as the young Han, but the cast and crew pulled it off. Would gladly watch an Odd Couple remake with Han and Chewie living in a New York apartment together.

4. Les Bleus: Une Autre Histoire de France (2016)
Excellent documentary about the ups and downs of the French national football team from 1996 to 2016. If Lilian Thuram isn't French president one day, there's no justice in the world.

3. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Amazing effort in keeping all the plates spinning AND coming in under two and a half hours. Satisfyingly miserable pseudo-ending of a story centred on the antagonist, Thanos. Even if they screw up part two, we'll still have this cracker.

2. The Insult (2017)
Excellent tension escalator from Ziad Doueiri set in Beirut that pits two stubborn bastards against one another. The ensuing court case raise all sorts of issues and shit gets very tangled. A real treat.

1. Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
The ostler stands with hands on his knees. Come on Mr. Feller, crack it open if you please. Listen to "Best and Worst of 2018" on Spreaker.

Sorry to Bother You

We got along to the Luna a few nights back to see Sorry to Bother You, a swingeing satire on capitalism and consumerism with at least two levels dedicated to how the modern day workforce is not far off the slavery of old. When I say two levels, I mean it sets out its primary proxy in a pretty standard way, that being a company called WorryFree that offers (unpaid) jobs for life. But then, around the start of the third act, it turns into full blown Cronenbergian body-horror. This is where the second level kicks in, and for fear of spoilers, we'll save that chat for the podcast below.

This is the first film by director Boots Riley, a musician, and his different background shows a bit in the style, with rougher takes, different edit touches here and there. This bloke has a lot of stuff to get off his chest and he does so in an absurdist, mostly witty way. There are plenty of films where the lead pretends to be someone they're not, for various reasons. In Sorry to Bother You, it's black people affecting white voices in order to be accepted by their clients. The 'white voice' gimmick looks good on the plot summaries and Riley nails the race aspect, travelling nicely alongside the reality TV/viral meme circus ("I Got the Shit Kicked Out of Me" and 'Have a cola and smile, bitch'). But the real story is the massive FUCK YOU to corporate society. It doesn't really hold back here, detailing the curly choice between making lots of money and doing the right thing. It's almost a proper old protest film, full of unionists, scabs and hired muscle. Like On the Waterfront for the skateboarding kitten generation.

The cast is fine. Lakeith Stanfield's Cash comes across as a regular fella with some decisions to make, all the while conveying differing levels of discomfort with his choices. Tessa Thompson's Detroit is oddly omnipotent, like she's angling to steal the film, which she basically does with her performance art exhibition - one of the highlights for me. At this point in the film she also adopts a 'white voice', presumably to pander to the elites of the art world. And what the crap is the significance of the dialogue from a film called The Last Dragon?

"And in the end, Eddie, you know what? You're nothing but a misguided midget asshole with dreams of ruling the world. Yeah, also from Kew Gardens. And also getting by on my tits."

Worth a look, perhaps? There are sneaky little links to other films, too - Danny Glover saying "I'm too old for that shit." (Lethal Weapon) and Cash is shown a short animation made by Michel Dongry (Gondry, who appears to be a bit of an influence here). Sorry to Bother You is a confronting, weird, engaging hodge-podge of a film. I got a buzz out if it, even if it put me off the track for a while....


See also: 

An impostor-led blast from the past, Sydney Pollack's Tootsie (1982) and the earlier mentioned On the Waterfront (1954), directed by Elia Kazan.

SPOILERS IN POD!!

Listen to "Sorry to Bother You" on Spreaker.